At least 16 killed in Venezuela prison riot

At least 16 killed in Venezuela prison riot

Relatives of inmates await outside of the Uribana prison in Lara state, Venezuela, on January 26, 2013, a day after a riot broke out. Another riot broke out on September 16, 2013 at Venezuela's Sabaneta prison, leaving 16 dead.

At least 16 inmates were killed in a prison riot that began Wednesday in the western Venezuelan state of Zulia.

"Fifteen people died ... There is one person, number 16, who also died but in another area not involved in the internal war that there was ... at that time, but also the product of violence," Iris Varela, the Cabinet minister in charge of Venezuela's penitentiaries, told reporters at an official event broadcast by state television.

"We don't want even one more death. Enough of the violence," she said.

Sabaneta is now the most violent prison in Venezuela, with 69 people killed behind its bars this year alone.

It was also where one of Venezuela's biggest prison tragedies occurred, when more than 100 prisoners died in a fire in 1994 that was suspected to have been caused by inmates trying to get revenge on a rival gang.

Venezuelan prisons are also severely overcrowded, with Sabaneta housing 3,700 inmates in a space meant for 700.